This book is for every woman who's ever been told they'd be much prettier if only they smiled. Honestly, I could relate to so many of the women in these portraits, especially given the dialogue Tersigni used to accompany these classic paintings. I would be hard-pressed to find a woman who hasn't been subjected to at least some of the examples given in this book of men to avoid.

Nicole Tersigni's idea for Men to Avoid in Art and Life is fun and silly and sure to bring a smile to the women in your life. She takes classic art and adds captions to bring some more modern sensibilities to the fore. She divides the book into sections dealing with mansplaining, sexperts, and misplaced concern.

This is funny stuff, even if it does base its humor on stale stereotypes about male attitudes and behaviors. Only the thinnest skinned man will be offended, and men and women alike will get a chuckle about the familiarity of the scenarios. (But it's other men, not me. . . .)

By the way, for the art lover, she provides a listing of the works and artists, as well as the museums where the are found.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

This was pretty good but it could have been so much better. I feel like a lot of the comments were either not as funny as they could have been [although still very true] or either felt like they were repeating themselves a lot. Also while there were a lot of really great pieces of art chosen, there were also several that didn't really feel like they fit with the comment that was put with them. It's a great idea but probably just needed a bit more editing with the comments and more time looking for appropriate pictures. It's really ridiculous how many old paintings have women in them that just look so entirely bored or annoyed and you have to wonder if that is because men saw that look on women's faces and went 'that must mean she's into me' or if the painter used a model and they were so annoying during the process that the model just had that look on her face the whole time. Overall pretty interesting but also I feel like I've seen better compilations of this on Tumblr so [shrug].

Nicole Tersigni has been attacking in all directions, for years. Men, life, her husband, her family, men, confinement, men … everything. Now she has collected her thoughts in a cartoonish little book called Men to Avoid in Art and Life. It’s a delightful small collection of scenes magnified out of classic European paintings, with Tersigni’s jaundiced captions over them.

Maybe I shouldn’t say jaundiced. That would come from a neutral observer. What they are really are finely targeted and accurate attacks on men abusing women out of total ignorance. Very little exaggeration was necessary to make her captions funny; men already provide. Free.

The book is divided into chapters of paintings, collecting men’s sins into neat buckets: The Mansplainer, The Concern Troll, The Comedian, The Sexpert, and The Patronizer.

The scenes are centered around a woman in a painting, with a man hovering while overexplaining something at her. The really great thing about the paintings is that Tersigni has found women who are just done. Tired of hearing the prattle, fed up with playing the bimbo, or holding off from a slew of expletives for lack of an AR-15 or a Deathstar. They look on, often breaking the fourth wall, like Jack Benny dumbfounded by the noise passing for information.

I leave you with a sampling:
“We’ve been over this a million times. You can’t get pregnant if you’re on top. It’s called gravity.”
“No one wants to see a woman with body hair. It’s unnatural.”
“Let me tell you something about the female body…”
“I know it’s hard for women to sit quietly. But close your eyes and listen. You might learn something.”
“…and women don’t have to be funny, because men are already attracted to them. That’s why only ugly women can tell a joke worth a damn. Anyway, nice to meet you. I’m Bob.”

David Wineberg

Very amusing with gorgeous color plates. Would make a fun coffee table or bathroom book.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing a ARC copy for my review.

As an artist, I am always looking to find interesting books about visual arts, design techniques and unique takes on the arts. This book, while featuring some great artworks, isn't. While I might be accused of mansplaining, my only intent is to leave a review. The artwork I loved, the humor not so much. Well, maybe it was just a little funny...

Than again, should I put myself in their (female) shoes...

Thanks for the ARC, which I go in exchange for an honest review.

This was indeed funny, and I enjoyed the art. It also made me want to strangle someone at times though :-) The humor was biting, sarcastic, and just what I needed for a change while locked down at home for this virus that seems never ending. I’m thinking I need to read humor more often now. Thanks. Advanced electronic review copy was provided by NetGalley, author Nicole Tersigni, and the publisher.

OMG this book is hilarious! You have to buy it for all the feminist friends in your life. It is the perfect gift and I will definitely be getting a copy for my sister. She's going to love it. If you've ever looked at those awkward expressions in old paintings and wondered what the subjects could possibly be thinking, this book will make you howl with laughter. And yes, you might actually learn a little something about art as all the art and artists get their full credit (naturally).

You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll flash an areola.

It all started with a strategically exposed tit.

Based on a twitter thread started by writer Nicole Tersigni, MEN TO AVOID IN ART AND LIFE pairs classic paintings (some of them creepy AF all by their lonesomes) with the gross things men say to women in the wild. From the always popular “you’d be so much prettier if you smiled” to the very meddlesome breastfeeding instructional, MEN TO AVOID IN ART AND LIFE is a veritable smorgasbord of white male privilege and awfulness.

There are your MANSPLAINERS:
http://www.easyvegan.info/img/men-to-avoid-03.jpg

Your CONCERN TROLLS:
http://www.easyvegan.info/img/men-to-avoid-06.jpg

Wannabe COMEDIANS:
http://www.easyvegan.info/img/men-to-avoid-07.jpg

So-called SEXPERTS:
http://www.easyvegan.info/img/men-to-avoid-08.jpg

And, not to be outdone, PATRONIZERS:
http://www.easyvegan.info/img/men-to-avoid-09.jpg

Books based on memes and Twitter feeds can sometimes be a little repetitive – too much of a good thing, etc. – but not so here. With just 76 pairings, this is a quick read that left me craving more. Sadly, there’s no dedicated Twitter feed where you can whet your appetite, just the original thread. Still, it’s something.
fwiw, I have no idea why they omitted “thanks I’m gay now” by norman rockwell from the book; this is something that will keep me up at night.

Ditto: https://twitter.com/nicsigni/status/1125453281344540674

Really the only thing that could have made this book better is if Tersigni paired this with screenshots of actual tweets. Still, it works. What woman among us hasn’t had a painfully unfunny joke explained back to us ad nauseam, as if the teller’s sexism will suddenly metamorphose into a sidesplitter upon the umpteenth retelling?

Love the premise and as a woman who has endured "mansplaining" on more than one occasion, it is overdue! Front cover is great!

This was quick and fun, and simply a book of memes basically. I do love browsing art and therefore enjoyed looking at the pictures and reading the clever, funny captions that mainly make fun of mansplaining and misogyny. Tough to critique a book of just pictures and funny captions, felt a bit like scrolling through a funny "feminist memes" reddit page and I enjoyed it.

Men to Avoid in Art and Life is a very funny and beautiful book that I would definitely gift to some of the women in my life.

This collection of famous art mixed with observations and snarky comments about men gave me quite a few laughs. Given the pandemic, that makes it worth a recommendation. Very funny!

Fine art plus captions suggesting what the man has just said to the woman, which may be come-on or condescension but is never anything good. It is essentially one joke, and doesn't even include my favourite of the genre ("Are you a software update because not right now"), which may have been someone else working from the same idea. But dear heavens, there's a definite skill at work here, matching each painting's expression (weary sigh, resigned, desperately attempting to retain composure) to just the right inciting idiocy.

(Netgalley ARC)

I would say only a quarter of these are funny (and no, I am not a white man to avoid!). The mansplainer ones were just like "here's a definition of mansplaining." Meh.

This book is full of classic art combined with modern/timeless captions. I didn't know whether to laugh or cringe! It would be a fun gift for an art fan or any woman who's heard "well, actually" one too many times.

We've all seen the memes floating around of classical paintings with a woman rolling her eyes, a man seemingly unaware of her displeasure, and a witty (modern) comment attached to it. I wasn't aware of Tersigni as the trend-starter, but I'm always amused by the memes when I come across them, so I was looking forward to a full coffee table book of them.

Some of the paintings-paired-with-comments were indeed bitingly funny, but others were quite hit-or-miss for me, not really outrageous enough to be hilarious. The book tries to "unify" the memes by putting them in categories of "men to avoid" (The Mansplainer, The Concern Troll, The Patronizer etc.), but a good amount of both comments and paintings seemed somewhat interchangeable. The "new" pairing of paintings and comments did make me look more closely at the paintings than I might have otherwise, and they're honestly fascinating in their own right - both for the low-key exasperated women and, more generally, for the types of scenes they depict ("the drawing lesson"? okthen).

In other news, I spent half the book totally distracted by the various animals in the paintings (the doves in that one post-coital scene? sure!), but I'm always distracted by puppies, so I guess that was to be expected. ;)

Just in terms of the book's layout, I found it well-designed but would have preferred the source paintings to have been named on their respective pages, rather than in a list at the end of the book. Flipping back and forth would have been quite time-consuming (especially in a digital format), and I did often find myself wondering where the paintings had come from.

I cannot even express how much I loved this book. Not only were the paintings nice to look at but the captions were spot on!
I laughed at most captions while some had me cringing at how accurate they are.
I've been recommending this book to all my friends. I will definitely purchase this book! I can't wait to see more from this author.

I'm typically a pretty big fan of everything Chronicle puts out, and this is no exception! A delightfully bitter little book that will get a laugh out of anyone.

It's unfortunate to have to attribute this book such a low rating, but the whole thing feels like a case of half-hearted attempts at humour and political correctness.

First of all, the Foreword by Jen Kirkman really does a disservice to this book. Rather than get me excited to read, the tone and forced jokes actually made me want to put the book down. With vague blanket statements like "Twitter is a daily reminder that I'm a woman" and an unnecessary, unfunny tampon joke, I just don't know what the point of her commentary was. (I also don't really know who she is... I googled her, I guess she's on the cover to help sales?) I would have much preferred something written by Nicole Tersigni herself, perhaps something reflective about the process of revisiting her content and putting the book together.

The content of the book is hit-or-miss, though there are some clever pairings made between the gorgeous artwork and comments that I've sure most women have heard from some men before.

This could be a good gift book, but unfortunately, I think it lacks substance.